Tim Bradley Names O’Shaquie Foster As A Style Test For Shakur Stevenson

Tim Bradley’s suggestion for Shakur Stevenson says more about how people are trying to think their way around Shakur than about the fight itself.

Bradley said this week that O’Shaquie Foster is a fighter who could “get with” Stevenson, stressing that he was not predicting a win, only a competitive technical fight built on ring IQ and defensive discipline. The idea rests on a familiar instinct. When a fighter is hard to hit and hard to outthink, the answer people reach for is usually someone who operates in the same mental space.

“I’m going to tell you a fighter that can get with Shakur. I’m not saying beat him, but I’m saying get with him. That’s on his level like this [ring IQ]. His name is O’Shaquie Foster,” said Tim Bradley on his channel about who Shakur Stevenson should fight next. Shakur goes down and fights that man right there.

Stevenson has not indicated who he plans to fight next after his 12-round decision win over Teofimo Lopez, and while Turki Alalshikh has spoken about a major bout for the winner, a Foster fight does not fit the profile of that kind of investment. It is a matchup that exists almost entirely as a technical conversation rather than a commercial one.

That difference explains why Bradley’s idea resonates with a certain segment of fans even as it remains unrealistic. Foster is not a draw and does not bring power or physical danger. His style leans on distance, timing, and control, which makes him easy to respect and hard to sell. When Foster and Stevenson appeared on the same July 2024 card in Newark, the crowd response reflected that reality, with fans drifting out during Foster’s fight with Robson Conceicao rather than locking in for a stylistic comparison.

Bradley, however, is focused on style rather than appeal. In his view, Foster’s size, southpaw stance, and defensive awareness would force Stevenson into a slower, more deliberate fight, one decided by small reads rather than momentum swings. Even then, Bradley stopped well short of calling it a threat, noting that Stevenson is sharper on the inside and more comfortable making adjustments.

Stevenson’s own comments after the Lopez fight point in a different direction. He described himself as a businessman, which places the emphasis on opponents who bring attention and revenue rather than stylistic curiosity. Names like Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, or Conor Benn fit that description far more cleanly than Foster.

Bradley’s suggestion keeps surfacing because it reflects how observers are trying to engage with Stevenson’s dominance. The conversation is no longer about finding someone to overpower him, but about whether another defensive thinker could make him uncomfortable, even if the fight itself never leaves the discussion stage.